


No Heroics

by Tiny_Black_Cat



Category: Once Upon a Time (TV)
Genre: (in the first sentence), Alternate Universe, Angst, Blood Drinking, Depression, F/F, Implied/Referenced Character Death, Implied/Referenced Child Abuse, Mild Blood, Minor Character Death, Multi, Suicidal Thoughts, This is an AU so if Emma hates Regina less than she should in S2 then it's okay, Vampire AU, Vampire!Regina
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-06-11
Updated: 2018-10-29
Packaged: 2019-05-19 20:30:30
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 3
Words: 3,128
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14880713
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Tiny_Black_Cat/pseuds/Tiny_Black_Cat
Summary: Regina is a vampire, but in a land without magic, she has no need to feed. When the curse breaks, however, she has to return to her old habits and hide her vampiric identity.Vampire AU.





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> First written 9/3/16. I probably won't continue this.
> 
> If I do finish this, it would be Swan Queen or Red Swan Queen, but there are no ships as of yet.
> 
> Title taken from the Carmilla episode with the same name.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> (Be warned there are some spoilers in the Chapter 1 comments!)

It was always a secret. 

From the day her mother had pinned her down and sank her teeth into her daughter's neck, Regina had never told anyone who she was. What she was.

A queen had no weakness, and so her hunger, her dependance on blood to survive was kept hidden. 

Cora would find Regina a friend. She would introduce him with a smile and leave, returning to hide the body. Dead men tell no tales. 

Then later, when Regina had a kingdom free of her mother, she could be a little more elegant. She would ask a servant to bring up one of her prisoners, a handsome one, and she would dismiss them. Alone with her victim, she would flatter them and they would fall in love with her before she drained their bodies. 

She didn't regret this, she told herself. It was alluring, it was thrilling - and it was the only way to survive. Going two or three days without feeding left her dizzy and disoriented, so she kept up her routine. No one would dare to question her.

There was always Snow White. Deep down, sometimes a voice would tell her that her pain wasn't because of a ten year old girl, but it was easier to think that and not about the person who bit her. She plotted, she waited, she schemed. 

 

The curse had certain effects she had never considered. Being in a land without magic, Regina realized that she didn't need to feed. Blood was as unnecessary to her now as human food. She was invulnerable.

Regina had also never considered the effects of motherhood. Having a child who only knew her as mother, and not as an evil queen, was a feeling she was rather unaccustomed to. 

Henry grew and grew, and she counted twenty-eight years since she last had to feed. The thought repulsed her, and she knew it would repulse her son even more. 

 

"You're Henry's birth mother?"

Regina wasn't sure what to think. The fact that a stranger had come to Storybrooke worried her almost as much Henry's book of fairytales. This book had somehow inspired him to find his "real" mother, since he was realizing who Regina was. She swore she would kill this intruder before she let Henry find out who she really was.

 

She had failed. She had failed, Henry had nearly died, Emma was the savior and Regina was on the hunt. She had forgotten the sick feeling of needing to feed; even when she was a child she had never been this hungry. 

Someone had the misfortune to be walking where Regina waited. Silently she pinned her victim to the wall and she drank her blood.

She stepped back. The victim was a nun, Storybrooke's fairies. Regina gloated in her power - and then nearly threw up. She had morals now, and her instincts had overpowered them. She returned home, not bothering to hide the body. 

 

The next day she only got out of bed to appease the person knocking at her door. It was Emma. 

"There's a body that's been found. A nun." Emma frowned at Regina. "Bite marks all over her. Know anything about it?"

Regina shook her head. "No."

"The townspeople are gonna riot. They think Ruby did it."

"Ruby?" The child of the moon. Regina had become more familiar with her Storybrooke identity.

"Enough people remember when she could turn into a wolf and now that Storybrooke has magic, she could've done it again."

It wasn't Ruby. "It wasn't a full moon."

Emma nodded. "I thought of that. I talked to her and I don't believe she did it. At least not purposefully, and her grandma will witness to the fact that she wasn't missing last night."

"That's not going to stop the town if they're angry."

Emma sighed. "This is a problem. What kind of monster just - eats people? And why are they just coming around now?"

Regina decided to change the topic. "Is Henry staying over at your - Mary Margaret's?"

"Yeah."

"Good. I think he should stay with you for the foreseeable future."

Emma frowned again. This was strange, but she didn't want to argue with Regina. Emma did want to get a chance to hang out with her son.

"He has everything he needs?" Regina's voice interrupted Emma's thoughts.

"Yeah."

"Good. Keep me updated on the murders." After all, Regina was the mayor.

"Will do. Thanks." Emma walked away.

Regina closed the door behind her and locked it. In her bedroom, she changed clothes and went back to her bed. She was hungry.

She needed to feed again.

 


	2. Chapter 2

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Emma and Ruby find out that Regina is a vampire.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I guess I have more to the story here. I still no clue how to finish this.
> 
> TW: disordered (vampire) eating, vomiting, non-consensual biting

The sunlight came brightly through closed blinds. Regina tossed and turned in her bed, trying to become comfortable. It was not easy, especially since she had spent the last twelve hours in bed.

She closed her eyes.

Opening them again, she looked at the clock. Eleven-thirty a.m.

She was _so_  hungry. It felt like her stomach was trying to consume itself. But she couldn’t eat. She couldn’t bring herself to kill again, and at this point she wasn’t even sure if she had the strength to hunt.

There was a knock at the door.

Regina pulled the covers up to hide her face.

“Regina?” There was more knocking.

She took a deep, shaky breath.

The knocking was a banging at this point.

“If you’re not opening the door I’m coming in.”

She heard the door open. Regina tried to slow her breathing, feigning sleep.

A pair of boots were coming up the stairs.

“What if she left the town or something?” she heard Emma’s voice from just outside the door.

“She wouldn’t have abandoned Henry,” another woman’s voice said from downstairs.

Regina smiled, bitterly.

The door to the bedroom opened. “Regina! Oh my god are you okay?”

Regina froze, pretending to be asleep.

“Hey. You awake?” Emma put her arm on Regina’s shoulder. “You’re breathing; that’s good. She’s up here, Ruby!”

Regina couldn’t stand it. She leapt out of bed and sunk her teeth into Emma’s neck, pinning her to the wall across the room.

“What the fuck!”

Emma grunted in pain. Regina drank her blood, quickly and greedily.

“Hey!” suddenly Ruby was pulling Regina off of Emma. Both were breathing heavily.

Ruby took in Regina’s appearance, pale and bloody-mouthed. They stared at eachother.

Then Regina ran, fleeing the scene.

“I think we found the killer,” Emma said at last.

 

Regina could barely lift the coffin to enter the crypt. As a vampire, she was stronger than the average human, but her starvation had not done her body any favors.

As she walked into the potions room, she found herself overcome with nausea and doubled over, vomiting on the floor.

How did she ever do this? What kind of monster had she become? Regina couldn’t recognize the person she saw in the mirror. She thought she was over all of this. She had blood on her lips and on her conscience.

She swayed and closed her eyes, nearly blacking out. The blood she had taken from Emma was a lot, but not nearly enough to sate her. She wondered if she had any blood in her crypt.

 

Not much later, Emma and Ruby had arrived at the graveyard. Emma was slightly faint from blood loss, but she had insisted on coming.

They found the coffin ajar and walked down the stairs in silence.

“Regina?” Ruby called out. Emma shushed her.

They found the woman easily. She was leaning against the shelves and searching for something. She turned around and saw them.

Her face morphed into an expression of guilt and sorrow. “You’re here.”

She stepped forward. With a small gasp she collapsed onto the floor.

Emma rushed forward. “Shit. She fainted. Help me pick her up.”

Ruby gently helped Emma lift the woman and carried her out of the tomb.

 

“I don’t really think it’s safe to put her in the cell right now.”

“I agree.”

“What do we do though? She’s obviously - “ Emma lowered her voice “ - starving.”

Regina awoke with a sore back. Without opening her eyes she could tell she was lying down across a couple of chairs. Ruby and Emma were talking.

Regina opened her eyes.

“She’s awake,” she heard Ruby whisper.

A door opened and closed, and she could no longer hear their words.

 

“She looks _awful_ , Emma. I honestly feel sorry for her.”

“She’s _killed people_ , Ruby.” Emma frowned.

“So have I. I mean,” Ruby hesitated. “Did you see her face when I pulled her off of you? That wasn’t the face of a woman who was in control of herself.”

She sighed and looked back into the station. “I do think that we should lock her up, but not before we ensure that she doesn’t die again.”

“How are you proposing we do that?”

 

The door opened and Ruby entered the room. She walked towards Regina, who was sprawled out across chairs, apparently sleeping again.

“Regina?” Ruby whispered.

Regina slowly opened her eyes.

“I’m here to - “ Ruby tried to figure out a way to phrase this. “You can drink some of my blood.”

Regina took a moment to process this. “What? No.” She started to sit up.

“Look, Emma will be here, and I don’t really think we have any other options.”

“I’m _fine_ ,” Regina said. She closed her eyes briefly while a wave of dizziness hit her.

“Obviously you’re not.” Ruby said. “Here.” She pulled her hair to one side, exposing her neck and sat in the chair next to Regina.

Regina was conflicted, but eventually, her instincts won out. Despite herself Ruby whimpered as Regina’s fangs pierced her skin.

After a minute, Ruby spoke. "Hey, Regina? That - that’s plenty, isn’t it? Um. Emma?”

Ruby tried to push Regina off of her, with no luck. "Emma!"

"Regina, stop!" Emma ran across the room and wrenched her off of Ruby.

Regina snarled at Emma. Then she realized what had happened.

"Ruby, I'm - "

She got up, slowly. She looked briefly at Emma and Ruby, who stared back at her.

Regina walked over to the jail cell and let herself in. She closed the door behind her.

She curled up on the cot and pulled the blanket over her head.

_Why the fuck did they trust her?_


	3. Chapter 3

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> It's bad
> 
> TW: mobs, attempted murder, attempted burning, suicidal thoughts, canonical minor character death, blood

“Where’s Emma?”

“Gone to get food. Human food. Not that you’re not human, but -“ Ruby frowned. “She’ll be back soon.”

Regina nodded. She stood up, feeling the stiffness from another night of sleeping in the station.

A ding was heard. Ruby moved closer to the cell bars. "Emma says that the mob is coming our way." Another ding. "They know where you are."

Regina moved closer to the front of the cell. "What are you going to do?"

"I - I don't know."

There was a banging on the door. Jeers and taunts could be heard outside.

“I’m going to go talk to them,” Ruby said.

“No! Ruby, that is one of the worst ideas I have ever heard.” Regina hesitated. “Just let them take me.”

“No!” Ruby frowned. “That is _not_  what is going to happen, okay? Stay here. I will deal with it.”

Regina watched her walk away. Ruby was a complete fool if she thought that she could calm the mob. Regina didn’t know what she was thinking.

This would not go well.

Regina summoned a fireball. It was weak - she was weak from lack of blood - but it was enough. She melted the lock and exited the cell.

Outside, Ruby was not making progress. The people were shouting at her and her own yelling was unintelligible. One woman grabbed her arm.

“Get off me!” Ruby turned around. More hands grabbed her. She struggled and fought them. The crowd yelled in fevered excitement.

“It’s me you’re looking for. Not her.”

All fell silent as Regina came out of the building.

Ruby shook the arms off of her. “Get back inside,” she said in a low voice. But it was too late. The mob surged forward, grabbing Regina and taking her away. Amongst the bodies Ruby lost sight of Regina.

She had to find help.

 

Breathe in. Breathe out.

_She was being dragged across the pavement._

Breathe in. Breathe out.

_The yelling of the crowd was deafening, but she heard none of it._

Breathe in.

_“Burn her.” She smelled smoke and saw burning brooms surrounding her. She was dragged to the bottom of a wood pyramid. At the top was a stake._

Breathe out.

_Regina winced slightly as the wood scraped her skin. Two men hauled her up the woodpile by her arms. Regina fought to keep her face expressionless. She wouldn’t give them that satisfaction._

Breathe in.

_They dragged her upright to a standing position. Regina let her legs weaken and forced them to pull her arms higher up. She had her small victories. They tied her with ropes to the stake. They bound her tighter and tighter. Her arms started to fall asleep._

Breathe out.

_One man slapped her face for good measure. Regina stared straight ahead. She felt liquid being poured over her head and realized by the smell it was gasoline. The two men picked their way down the pile._

Breathe in.

_A woman, her eyes alight with hate, extended her flaming broomstick. She touched the flames to the wood beneath Regina’s feet. She heard crackling._

Breathe out.

_“Regina!” To her disgust, she fainted._

 

Regina blinked. She was not dead. She opened her eyes to see she was in the same position she had found herself a few days ago, in the sheriff’s station.

“Jesus, Regina, you can’t keep doing this.”

“Let her rest, Emma.”

“Where is she?”

A whisper: “Keep Henry out, okay?”

Regina opened her eyes to see Emma shooing David out the door. Next to Emma stood Snow and Ruby.

“You’re safe now,” Ruby said.

_God. So that happened._

“How long was I out?”

“Just a few hours,” Emma said. “Long enough for us to get you back here and the crowd to disperse. I don’t know what they were _thinking_.”

“Are you feeling alright?” Snow asked.

“I feel wonderful,” Regina said, sarcastically.

“ _Regina_.“

She sighed. “I feel hungry. And I smell like someone tried to set me on fire. And of gasoline.”

“So it’s true,” Snow said.

“Yeah.”

There was quiet.

Ruby broke the silence. “Here.”

She walked over to Regina. “You can have my ... wrist.”

Regina closed her eyes and bit. After a minute, she felt herself being wrenched off of Ruby.

“Let’s get you a bandaid,” Emma said, frowning.

Regina lay back down on the chairs and curled up, closing her eyes. She wiped her mouth.

 

A few hours later, it seemed, she woke up. She didn’t enjoy returning to the land of the living.

“Regina, are you awake? We need to talk about this.”

She pretended to be asleep.

“Goddammit. Regina, Henry wants to see you.”

She hadn’t seen Henry in almost a week. Of course he’d be worried. She opened her eyes.

“Where is he?”

“With David and Mary Margaret, but we don’t have much time. The kid is worried sick about you, you know.”

Regina sat up, wincing. The chairs were not comfortable.

“I have the ultimate concern for your situation,” Emma began, “but _turning yourself over to a mob??_ “

“What she means is that’s we’re concerned about you,” Ruby interrupted. She shot Emma a look. “Look - “

She was cut off by the opening door. “Mom!”

Regina’s throat was dry. “Henry,” she said, quietly. She opened her arms as the boy ran to give her a hug.

“Mom, Snow and David said something had happened to you. Snow White, Mom! I told you! But they said that I shouldn’t see you.”

Henry took a breath. “Why have you been gone since the curse broke?”

Regina hesitated.

“She’s been ill,” Ruby said.

“Why didn’t you tell me that, then?” Henry asked. “Anyways, are you better now? I know the curse broke and you’re the evil queen, but Mom, this is so cool! Everyone has their memories back and they're working towards their happy endings!”

“Henry,” Regina didn’t know what to say. “I’m still not feeling too well. It’s part of the curse. Maybe you can stay with Emma for a few days?”

Emma glared daggers at Regina, which confused her.

Henry seemed to deflate. “Can we at least get something to eat?”

“We - no, I don’t think I have the energy. I’m sorry, Henry.” He looked like he was going to cry.

“Did the curse breaking hurt you?”

_Yes._

“No, I just haven’t been this sick in a long time.”

“Shouldn’t you be in bed resting then?”

“Emma needed me here.” Regina paused. “Did you hear about the mob? We had to deal with the perpetrators.”

“Yeah,” Henry said, slowly. “Well I guess I’m going to go hang out with my grandparents, since they don’t lie to me.”

He left the room.

“He doesn’t - “

“Save it, Swan.” The presence of others was the only thing keeping her tears at bay. She went back into her cell and closed the gate, curling into herself on the cot.

 

_Regina didn’t know what she had done to displease Mother this time. She had been kept away from food for four days, locked away in her room._

_The next person she saw she would have to eat. Mother had made sure of that._

_It wasn’t unusual for Regina to be kept starving, but four days was a new record. Regina felt faint._

_The lock clicked. “Mother?”_

_She turned around. It was Daniel._

_Shock flooded Regina’s system. “How did you come in?”_

_Daniel smiled. “Your mother brought me to you. She said that she had been told of our little relationship, and that she approved.”_

_He stepped forward._

“Don’t come any closer to me!”

_He froze. “‘Gina? What’s wrong?”_

_“You have to leave,” Regina said. “It’s not a gift for you to be here. Please.” She could hear his heartbeat._

_“Regina, I know that your mother is cruel, but_ she sent me up here _. Don’t you think that means something?”_

_“I do. Daniel, I love you. Please leave.”_

_He turned to leave, tears in his eyes._

_“Wait.”_

_Regina was crying herself. “I’m a monster. I don’t even think we should be having this relationship.”_

_Daniel ran towards Regina. “No! Don’t say that.”_

_“Please,” Regina sobbed, more towards her mother than anyone else._

_She moved her head towards Daniel’s neck and bit._

_She couldn’t stop herself, and in his shock Daniel couldn’t pull away. Regina hugged him closer._

_Finally, she choked and coughed from her beloved’s blood. She removed her fangs from his neck._

_Daniel’s face was frozen in an expression of confusion and horror. His neck was bloodied._

_Regina’s arms were the only thing keeping his corpse standing._

_‘No.”_

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This fic was heavily inspired by the video for the song New Americana by Halsey.
> 
> (If you're going to look it up, consider that the video also contains near-burning at the stake. And guns.)


End file.
